Irvine’s PBR Commits to Missouri Project

An Orange County firm has joined the development rush of a small Missouri town that is rapidly staking its claim as a country music and entertainment mecca.

PBR, the Irvine-based planning and environmental research company, is a partner in a recently announced $500-million project on 1,600 acres in Branson, Mo.

The project, Branson South Inc., includes four resort hotels, two golf courses, multiple music theaters, a marina and between 2,000 and 3,000 residences.

“The tourism development there is incredible,” PBR President William R. Phillips said. “That part of the country is quite popular for retirement communities. It’s just a happening place.”

Located about 40 miles south of Springfield, the town has lured a number of popular entertainers, including Roy Clark, Mel Tillis, Box Car Willie, Jim Stafford and Cristy Lane. Some have built theaters for their own performances, which have attracted thousands of fans from throughout the nation annually.

Phillips’ firm, also involved in the planning of Walt Disney Co.’s EuroDisney theme park that opens next month in France, has joined the Branson project along with Clark Powell of the King II Partnership based in St. George, Utah, and a group of Missouri-based investors.

Phillips said the Branson project would attempt to address traffic problems in the area generated by fast-growing tourism. During peak months, between May and October, Phillips said, it is not unusual for drivers to sit in traffic jams for up to two hours in the town’s main area.

The first phase of the development, which would include the construction of some of the hotel facilities, is scheduled for completion in two years, Phillips said. The entire project would take up to 12 years to finish.

Phillips said workers have already started to clear the land and soil samples were being taken.